Intimate Violence Deaths in the News

A compilation of daily news articles from around the United States about deaths (including both people and animals) that appear to occur in the context of a past or present intimate relationship, focusing on 2009-present. (NOTE: this blog is limited to incidents that appear in the media and are captured by our search terms. We recognize this is not an exhaustive portrayal of all deaths resulting from intimate violence.)
When is society going to realize intimate violence makes victims of us all?

Sunday, February 24, 2013

FORT KNOX, Ky. (WHAS11) – The Fort Knox couple who died Friday in a
double shooting have been identified as Spc. Christopher and Krista
Meeks.

Police responded to their residence in the Oak Park neighborhood shortly
before 4 A.M. after receiving a 911 call from their residence.

Responding officers heard gunfire and entered the home where they found the pair with gunshot wounds.

The U.S. Army Criminal Investigation Command said the incident may be a result of an apparent domestic dispute.

According to police reports, Spc. Meeks was a human resources specialist
with the 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division. He’s been at
Fort Knox since March 2011.
The last murder at Fort Knox was in 1993.

The names of the victims will not be released by authorities until
24-hours after the families are notified. Two children at the home at
the time of the shootings are now in the custody of the
Kentucky Department for Community Based Services.

RAYMORE, Mo. — For just the second time since the turn of the century, Raymore Police are investigating a homicide.

It happened early Saturday morning and a suspect has already been arrested and is behind bars.
Danielle Beckett,30, died at the hospital Saturday, less than an hour after police say her husband Erick Beckett shot her.

Despite this being their first holicide case in six years, detectives quickly made an arrest.

A St. Mary’s man identifying himself as a mail carrier for the U.S.
Postal Service remained jailed without bond after a brief court hearing
Wednesday on charging papers alleging he went into his estranged wife’s
home, dragged her out a window and beat her to death.

James
Mitchell Carter, 46, was “holding onto the hope” of reconciling with
Kimberly Dawn Carter, witnesses told police, but court papers also state
that she recently told him that she was going to soon serve him with
divorce papers.

Kimberly Carter also planned to change the locks
on Tuesday to her Great Mills area home because she feared her husband
had made a copy of her daughter’s key, according to charging papers
alleging he appeared in her bedroom at about 3 a.m. that day.

“Mitchell,
No!” Kimberly Carter yelled as she and a boyfriend awoke, court papers
state, and the suspect initially got into a scuffle with Thomas Norris,
who struck the suspect before running outside.

The attack on
Kimberly Carter commenced, initially inside the home located in the
Greenview West housing area off Chancellor’s Run Road, according to a
statement of probable cause filed by detective Cpl. William Raddatz of
the St. Mary’s Bureau of Criminal Investigations.

“Then, it
appears she was taken out of the basement window and brought to the
yard,” the detective wrote. “At this point, she was beaten repeatedly
with a blunt object in the face.”

“They think it was a brick, a patio brick,” St. Mary’s State’s Attorney Richard Fritz (R) said this week.

Kimberly
Carter died at the scene, and police found James Carter a few hours
later at his home in a housing area off Route 5 near Great Mills. Court
papers state that he told the law officers that he left his three young
children there early that morning while he went out to “drive around,”
including stopping at 1 a.m. at a bank in California.

Police found
the suspect had several minor injuries, court papers state, including
scratches and a large cut on his hands, a bruise on his lip and
scratches on his chest. The law officers found more blood on Wednesday
as their hunt for evidence took them to Willows Road near Lexington
Park.

“They found some bloody clothes on the side of the road that
they assume are those of the person who is alleged to have committed
the murder,” Fritz said. “They will be subject to forensic
investigation, DNA testing.” Carter was charged with second-degree
murder in his wife’s death, as well as first-degree burglary.

Witnesses
told police Kimberly Carter locked her doors before she went to bed,
court papers state, and the prosecutor said there was no evidence of a
forced entry to the residence.

She and the suspect had been separated since the middle of last year, court papers state, when she moved out of their home.

A
resident of the neighborhood where Kimberly Carter died this week said
she moved in there about six months ago. “She was a really nice person,”
the neighbor said.

James Carter told a court commissioner after
his arrest this week that he worked at the post office in Great Mills,
and that he had been employed by the postal service for 13 years. An
employee at the post office declined to speak Thursday about Carter’s
employment.

Bruce Macomb, 62, faces a first-degree murder charge for the
strangulation of Beba Macomb, 58, early Thursday at their home of 30
years.

Police found the woman's body Thursday afternoon after
someone called 911 and asked them to check on the couple at their home
at 1620 W. Warren St., just east of South Federal Way.

Bruce
Macomb walked out of the home when police arrived and had an injury to
his neck, officers say. Police then went inside and found his wife's
body.

Police say they have developed undisclosed evidence that
Bruce Macomb killed his wife and injured himself. Bruce Macomb was taken
to a local hospital for treatment for the neck wound and was arrested
after his release early Friday afternoon.

The homicide occurred
three days after Matthew Mohler-Kerns, 28, was fatally shot in his car
on Franklin Road. No charges have been filed in that case, although
Shawn Nathan Fisher - in jail on other charges - is considered a person
of interest.

Police have released no information about a possible
motive in the Macomb homicide, which investigators believe was
premeditated because they recommended prosecutors charge it as a
first-degree murder case.

Lynn Hightower, spokeswoman for the
Boise Police Department, said they had other possible witnesses in
addition to Bruce Macomb, but she declined to release more details.

Bruce
Macomb was booked into the Ada County Jail shortly after noon Friday.
He won't be able to ask for bond until he makes his first court
appearance Monday afternoon.

Public records show Bruce and Beba
Macomb lived at the Warren Street home since 1983. A woman who answered
the phone at a relative's home declined comment.

Bruce Macomb does
not have a felony record in Idaho, according to court records. He
pleaded guilty to a DUI charge in 1996 and has had a few traffic
infractions since.

COGAN STATION, Pa. — Authorities in central Pennsylvania are
investigating the death of a man and woman whose bodies were found in a
burning sport utility vehicle as a possible murder-suicide.

Officials in Lycoming County told The (Williamsport) Sun-Gazette
that the bodies of 42-year-old Seth Snyder of Hepburn Township and
38-year-old Cherilyn Kephart were found in the SUV outside his parents’
home along route 973.

Chief William Solomon of the Old Lycoming Township police
department says investigators believe Snyder used an accelerant to set
the fire at about 11:30 p.m. Thursday.

Court records indicate that he had been arrested last fall on a
charge of assaulting the victim. Under a protection from abuse order
later granted to her, the two were to have no contact other than
exchanging custody of their two young children.

Douglas Garni of 245 Sunnyridge Ave. Apt. 23 was found dead of a
self-inflicted gunshot wound after police heard a single shot around 11
p.m.

Police were called to the Colonial Gardens Condominium Complex at
7:24 p.m. Initial reports indicated a verbal domestic disputebetween a
boyfriend and girlfriend inside the condo. The girlfriend escaped to a
neighbor’s condo, followed by Garni. There she reported being threatened
and requested police.

Garni, police said, returned to his residence after officers were called.

The first arriving officers interviewed the girlfriend and learned
Garni had several weapons registered to him, which were inside the
condo.

A perimeter was set outside the condo awaiting the arrival of the
emergency services units.

Bridgeport and Fairfield ESU, along with
Fairfield and Norwalk hostage negotiators arrived on scene attempting to
make contact with Garni, according to Fairfield Police.

Several nearby condos had to be evacuated and those residents were
assisted by Fairfield firefighters. Residents were relocated to Fire
Station 2 for the duration of the incident.

American Medical Response and Fairfield Fire Department personnel
remained on scene and staged in the area of High Street and Raymond
Drive in the event they were needed to provide medical assistance. The
Fire Department also provided a heat seeking unit to help the ESU teams.

For several hours negotiators unsuccessfully attempted to make contact with Garni by phone and audible PA systems, police said.

Around 11 p.m., a single gunshot was heard from the wooded area just
north of Garni’s condo. ESU members closed the perimeter, searching the
wooded area, which quickly led to the discovery of Garni’s body.

The area remained an active crime scene until 2 a.m. Sunday, until
the scene could be processed by detectives and the State Medical
Examiner’s office personnel concluded their on-scene investigation.
Police expressed sadness at the outcome of the situation.

Friday, February 22, 2013

KOKOMO, Ind. (AP) — A central Indiana man has been charged with assisting suicide for allegedly making a noose for his estranged wife, who later used it to hang herself.

Nicholas E. Ellisof Greentown faces one count of assisting suicide in Jessica Ellis' death. He's being held at the Howard County Jail on a $25,000 bond.

The Kokomo Tribune reports court documents say Jessica Ellis had a history of suicide attempts and told a friend her husband had made a noose for her and put the rope in her vehicle so "she could use it on herself if she wanted to."

The friend said Jessica Ellis' husband reminded Ellis about the noose Dec. 9, the night before her body was found hanging from a rafter at a Kokomo park's shelter house.

VALLEY CENTER — A Valley Center couple who sheriff’s officials said died in a murder-suicide were identified Thursday by the Medical Examiner’s Office as Miguel and Eleonore Ataide.

The 48-year-old woman died of multiple gunshot wounds, and her 41-year-old husband died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head, an investigator for the office said. Her death has been ruled a homicide.

Miguel Ataide’s mother heard her son arguing with his wife Tuesday night at the couple’s house in Valley Center, the investigator said. Gunshots were heard moments later. The son told his mother he had just shot his wife, and he went into his bedroom and closed the door. The mother called 911.

Deputies and paramedics arrived at the house on Littlefield Lane near Oak Trail Road about 9 p.m.

The son was found dead in the bedroom.

Sheriff’s homicide investigators said both the son’s mother and the wife’s mother had been visiting at the house for several weeks. The wife’s mother also was in the house when the shots were fired.

The father of four who went on a shooting rampage in the family’s Miami home was once known for a more uplifting reason – his love of aviation and hot-air ballooning.

Carlos Zuniga, 45, took his own life Wednesday night after shooting his wife, Michelle, 43, and children Lauren, 14, and Stefan, 11.

Stefan died Thursday. Lauren and her mother remain in critical condition at Jackson Memorial Hospital.

The sudden spasm of violence in the quiet Coral Way-area neighborhood left detectives, relatives and friends struggling to understand why Zuniga turned on his family. The family had no apparent history of domestic violence.

Certainly, there were clues. He had held several different jobs in the past few years — and most recently, appeared to be closing the family’s hot-air ballooning company, said family friend Colin Graham.

The couple opened the company in 2005 under the name Winds Aloft Aviation Inc. It was commonly known as Miami Balloon rides.

Graham, who worked as a balloon pilot for the family and now runs Arizona’s Endeavor Ballooning, called Michelle Zuniga “a great mom.”

“Michelle and the kids were great people. She is an absolute sweetheart. I have nothing but good things to say about her,” Graham said. “Stefan looked just like his father. Almost identical, like a mini-version of him.”

Zuniga had recently put one of his balloons on sale on an industry website. Graham said he knew the family still enjoyed hot air ballooning recreationally, but did not seem to be doing so well professionally.

The company’s website appears to be defunct, the phone number disconnected.

Carlos Zuniga recently had started working as an aviation safety inspector at the Federal Aviation Administration. The FAA recently announced it would have to make major cuts – including furloughs for employees – under federal sequestration.

Before the FAA, Zuniga worked as a pilot for DHL, an international package shipping company, and before that, flew 737s for Miami Air.

The Zunigas were married in 1998. Neighbors said Carlos Zuniga also had two adult children from a previous marriage.

In an interview with The Miami Herald in 2011, Michelle Zuniga said they founded the company so she could spend more time with her family. The company has taken thousands of people on hot air balloon rides in South Florida.

“We fly in the Redland,” she said. “It’s a beautiful area, and you have a fantastic view of the ocean, the Everglades and what is in the southern part of Dade County, which people don’t even know exists.”

On Wednesday night, a neighbor called 911 shortly after 9:30 p.m. about a disturbance, possibly shots fired, at the home at 2610 SW 24th St.

Miami police rushed to the scene. Another neighbor, who asked not to be identified, told The Miami Herald that he had heard four “pops.”

Neighbor Xavier Cal, who lives next to the Zunigas, said he saw a woman collapse on the patio in front of her home Wednesday night.

“She was lying on the lawn,” he said. “Later, I heard the last shot inside the house.”

Miami police spokesman William Moreno said Thursday morning “screaming and possible gunshots were heard from inside the home,” as officers arrived.

“Officers quickly assembled a small team and made entry into the home to protect those in danger,” Moreno said.

Miami homicide detectives hope to learn more about what may have caused the tragedy when Michelle Zuniga’s relatives arrive from out of state. She remains in critical condition, unable to talk.

“We’ve never heard them fight. The police have never come to the house,” Cal said of the Zunigas.
“I’m in shock.”

“It’s an extremely calm neighborhood,” said Miami Mayor Tomas Regalado, who lives about five blocks from the Zuniga residence. “Never, in my 30 years here, have I seen a violent crime in this neighborhood.”

The two people dead after an apparent murder-suicide early Thursday divorced just last month.

According to the Bartow County Sheriff’s Office, about 2:40 a.m. Robert Wade Brazell, 42, of Kingsland, entered Barnsley Gardens Resort where Angela Player, 37, was a clerk.

Brazell shot Player before fleeing into nearby woods. The BCSO said deputies, assisted by the Georgia State Patrol and a GSP helicopter, searched the area in an attempt to locate Brazell, who had refused to come out. He was later found dead of a self-inflicted gunshot.

BCSO Public Information Officer Sgt. Jonathan Rogers said, “All I can tell you is that it is family-violence related” when asked for a motive. According to a press release, the pair had divorced in January.

Located on 3,300 acres in Adairsville, the resort felt the impact of Thursday’s shooting.

“Barnsley Gardens Resort is a close-knit family and this unprecedented tragedy is felt across the resort. We grieve for the loss of our friend and colleague, a warm and caring woman who worked devotedly alongside us for nearly five years. Our thoughts, prayers and support are with her family at this time,” said General Manager Michael Gordon. “We want to thank the Bartow County Sheriff’s Office for their professionalism and expedient work this morning. This tragic incident serves to reinforce and remind us all of the serious nature of domestic violence.”

Rogers declined to comment on how Brazell gained access to the campus and where in the resort the incident took place. He also declined to comment on any possible confrontations the pair may have had or whether there was any indication Brazell planned the attack.

Although a mugshot for Brazell was released, no details on his criminal history — and if he had been violent in the past — were released when sought. Rogers declined to comment on whether Brazell had the gun legally.

Rumors spread Thursday that Brazell may have stalked Player, although Rogers also declined to comment on those allegations and whether a protective order was in place.

According to the release, no further information is being released as the investigation is ongoing.

Wednesday, February 20, 2013

A 23-year-old man was ordered held without bail Tuesday in the death of his estranged wife's boyfriend.

Anthony
T. Utterback was charged with second-degree murder and use of a weapon
to commit a felony for allegedly stabbing Ryan P. O'Donnell early
Friday. Police arrested Utterback soon after the incident in South
Omaha.

Officers found O'Donnell injured near 40th and Y Streets
shortly after midnight. The victim was taken to Creighton University
Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead.

A prosecutor told
Douglas County Judge Sheryl Lohaus that Utterback had confronted
O'Donnell, who was dating his estranged wife. Utterback allegedly pulled
a knife and O'Donnell grabbed a crowbar.

The prosecutor said that
Utterback stabbed O'Donnell with the knife and that O'Donnell struck
back with the crowbar. Utterback appeared in court on crutches.

Both O'Donnell and Utterback have lived in Bellevue, but police did not release their current addresses.

O'Donnell's slaying was Omaha's fifth homicide of 2013. Police have made arrests in three of the cases.

A man wanted on a California parole violation warrant has been
arrested in Las Vegas on a murder count in the stabbing death of his
girlfriend, Metro Police said.

Ricardo Glasgow, 53, of Los
Angeles and his girlfriend Sharron Jones, 49, had been arguing Sunday
night at a home in the 1500 block Silver Knoll Avenue, Metro Police said
in a report released Tuesday.

Witnesses alleged that Glasgow
threatened Jones with a knife earlier in the evening and said, “Nobody
in this house can save you” and “you’re going to die,” according to the
report.

Shortly after, Glasgow grabbed another knife from the
kitchen, police said. Two women in the home saw Glasgow stab Jones
multiple times with the knife, the report said.

The two witnesses
tried to stop Glasgow by throwing things at him, but they were
unsuccessful, the report said. They called police and fled to the roof,
fearing Glasgow would turn the knife on them, police said.

Officers
arrived at the home about 11:30 p.m. Sunday and saw the two women on
the roof and Glasgow in the front yard, police said. His shirt had blood
on it, and when police called to him, he went back inside, the report
said.

When officers entered the home, they heard Glasgow say, “Come get me,” and “come see what I’m doing,” the report said.

The
officers found Glasgow standing over Jones with a large knife, the
report said. Glasgow didn’t obey the officers’ commands to surrender,
forcing them to use a stun gun to subdue him, police said.

Jones, of southern California, was taken to University Medical Center, where she was pronounced dead at 3:04 a.m. Monday.

Glasgow was wanted on California warrant for a parole violation stemming from an attempted murder charge in 2005, police said.

Glasgow
was booked into the Clark County Detention Center on counts of murder
with a deadly weapon, kidnapping with a deadly weapon, resisting police
with a deadly weapon, and the fugitive warrant.

A suspect has been arrested in the Monday night shooting of a young mother found dead in the driveway of a DeKalb County home.

Carlos
Jerome Simpson, 23, who lived at the Eagles Nest Circle home where the
shooting occurred, was booked into the DeKalb jail early Tuesday,
charged with felony murder, according to jail records.

Simpson’s
sister, Lawana Simpson, told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution that the
victim, identified by police as 20-year-old Shikhira Dunson, was her
brother’s girlfriend and the mother of his 10-month-old child.

Dunson was shot during an argument, according to DeKalb police Assistant Chief J.W. Conroy.

“Last night, I was bathing my kids and my son came in and said they were arguing,” Lawana Simpson said.

She said her brother went outside, and Dunson “came outside and was messing with him.”

WHIPPOORWILL, Ariz. (AP) - Authorities say a woman killed her boyfriend on the Navajo Nation after he told her to shoot him.

Carmelita Williams faces a second-degree murder charge.

She told authorities that her boyfriend had physically and verbally
assaulted her last week in Whippoorwill. According to court documents,
the boyfriend blocked the door of a hogan, gave Williams a pistol and
told her she couldn't leave unless she shot him.

Williams says her boyfriend pointed the pistol at himself while she
held it in her left hand. She then fired a round into his chest,
holding her son in the other arm.

Williams told authorities she tried to call 911 but did not have
cellphone service, and her relatives' phones didn't work either.

A former Monument man is suspected in the stabbing death of two young children in Falcon.

Ethan Courrau, 22, allegedly stabbed his girlfriend's children and is believed to have then turned the weapon on himself.

According to the El Paso County Sheriff's Office a
call came in at 11:12 p.m. on Feb. 13 of a reported stabbing. When
deputies arrived at a mobile home located on the property of the
Remington Ranch Equestrian Stables in Falcon they found 19-month-old
Scarlett Gallagher dead and her three-year-old brother Ryan Willhite
with serious injuries. Willhite was transported to the hospital where he
later died from his injuries. The young boy would have been
four-years-old on Feb. 26.

Deputies also found Courrau with injuries and transported him to the hospital where he too died.

El Paso County Sheriff's Office public information
officer Lt. Jeff Kramer said all indications lead to Courrau's injuries
being self-inflicted but they are still waiting on the autopsy results
to confirm that.

Kramer said Courrau was the boyfriend of the victim's
mother Katie Cane but was uncertain if Courrau lived at the mobile
home. He did say that the 9-1-1 call was made by the grandmother of the
victims. It is believed that Cane was not at home at the time of the
stabbing and when she arrived home she found her children and Courrau.

Courrau is the son of Beth Courrau, a member of the
board of directors for Woodmoor Water and Sanitation District and the
former president of the North El Paso County Coalition of Community
Organizations.

In a statement to another media outlet the Courrau
family said, “We are heartbroken for all of the families impacted by the
tragic news that has unfolded.”

The statement goes on to say, “It is impossible to
wrap our minds around this. There are so many unanswered questions of
which we may never know the answers. We loved our son deeply. Ethan
struggled with being bipolar 1, and as his parents we actively helped
him seek medical treatment.”

The sheriff's office is still conducting their
investigation. An account has been set up at Ent Federal Credit Union to
help the family of the young victims. It is under “Memorial Account for
Scarlett and Ryan.”

RESTON, Va. (CBSDC) – The husband of a pregnant woman who died in a Reston fire Monday morning has been found dead in Texas, police said.

The man was found dead Tuesday in Bandera County, Texas, just
northwest of San Antonio, according to Fairfax County police. His death
is being investigated as a suicide.

Police have identified the woman who died in the early morning
apartment fire as Jennifer Lynne Pearson, 38, who was pregnant when she
succumbed to her injuries from the fire. Her death was being
investigated as a homicide, but police said after learning of her
husband’s death they are not searching for any suspects in the homicide
case.

Fairfax County fire personnel responded to a call at about 6:10 a.m.
Monday for a fire in the 12000 block of Waterside View Drive in Reston,
where they found a fire burning in one apartment of the three-story
apartment complex.

Firefighters put the fire out and pulled an unconscious adult woman
from the building. Authorities said she was badly burned and later
succumbed to her injuries. No other injuries were reported.

A neighbor who lives in the apartment above the one that caught fire
told WNEW’s Kevin Patrick that she heard fighting in the apartment below
her the night before and woke up to the smell of smoke.

St. Mary's County police have charged a
man with second-degree murder in the death of his estranged wife, whose
body was found in the backyard of a home in Great Mills.

Forty-six-year-old
James Mitchell Carter of Lexington Park was arrested Tuesday. He is
charged in the death of 38-year-old Kimberly D. Carter of Great Mills.
She was found early Tuesday suffering from injuries to her head and was
pronounced dead at the scene.

Officers say they
were called to the home for a report of a suspicious person and found a
naked man outside. The man reported that he'd been visiting the woman
when another man entered the home, and a struggle ensued. The naked man
fled.

A High Point man has been charged with murder in the death of his wife, police announced Tuesday.

Patrol officers responded to a domestic disturbance call at 2113
Wingate Place about 2:25 p.m. Monday and found a female inside the
residence who had been assaulted and was unconscious.

The victim, Safiya Dadacha, was taken to High Point Regional Hospital.
Investigators said her husband, Arab Mohamed Ali, 33, made the call to
police.

“He said they’d had a fight and then was really vague about what
happened,” said High Point Police Department Capt. Tim Ellenberger. “We
could tell she had obviously been assaulted.”

Dadacha, who died on Tuesday, had wounds consistent with a beating and
possible strangulation, but detectives are awaiting autopsy results to
try to get a better understanding of exactly how she died, he said.

“There was no blood and no broken bones. It’s strange,” Ellenberger
said. “I don’t think there was a weapon involved. There was some assault
with hands.”

Ali was taken into custody Monday evening after being questioned by
detectives. He was charged with murder on Tuesday and was jailed under
no bond, pending an initial court appearance.

“When we finally got the doctors to say what it looked like, we started
talking to him about what happened, and then we were able to piece it
together,” Ellenberger said. “He didn’t confess to killing her, of
course, but we were able to piece what he told us together with the
evidence on the body, what little there was.”

The couple’s two children, ages 2 and 4, were home at the time, but
investigators weren’t sure whether they saw the assault, he said. The
family is from Ethiopia.

The children are in the custody of the Department of Social Services, police said.

The residence is one of three two-story units in a building off
Brentwood Street in southeast High Point. Dadacha’s death is the first
homicide in the city in 2013.

Police said their investigation is ongoing. Anyone with information is
asked to call High Point Crimestoppers at 889-4000 or Lt. Kevin Ray at
887-7830.

"This case is being investigated as a murder-suicide,
pending results from the medical examiner's office," Lt. Todd Maxey
said in a news release.

Around 3 p.m. Tuesday, deputies found one male and
one female occupant in a silver 2001 Jeep Cherokee parked on the side of
Ramsey Memorial Road at the intersection of Snow Creek Road.
Both victims were confirmed dead at the scene from apparent gunshot wounds.

A handgun was found inside the vehicle.

The Yees, who were married in 1995, were the owners
and operators of Penhook Boat Dock, on Jefferson Dock Road in
Pittsylvania County.

Mrs. Yee was the daughter of Pittsylvania County Commissioner of Revenue Sam Swanson Jr.

A 90-year-old Pennsylvania woman was
shot dead overnight after getting caught in a crossfire between police
and an armed suspect who barricaded himself inside his apartment.

Andrew
Cairns, 49, surrendered himself early Wednesday morning following a
seven-hour standoff in Warminster Township during which he had fired
numerous rounds from a high-caliber handgun, according to police.

The
drama unfolded at around 4pm Tuesday when police say Cairns was
involved in a domestic disturbance with his common-law wife in the 2000
building at the Jefferson on the Creek apartment complex at 675 East
Street Road.

A domestic
violence case worker was initially dispatched to the scene, but nearly
four hours later, a second call came from the residence about shots
being fired, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported.

Detectives
who were in the area on an unrelated matter rushed to the building and
were met with a barrage of bullets fired at by the suspect, who
barricaded himself inside his unit.

Officials said Cairns' wife was able to escape the apartment unharmed at around 8.30pm.

All
the surrounding roads were closed and the apartment building was
evacuated, with about 40-60 residents being sent to the William Tenant
High School gymnasium where the Red Cross set up a temporary shelter.
The Davisville Shopping Center was also evacuated.

The responding cops took cover in a
nearby ravine and returned fire. Warminster Police Chief Mike Murphy
said during a press conference Wednesday morning that some of the rounds
whizzed by officers' heads, nearly striking them, Phillyburbs.com reported.

In
the protracted gun battle that followed, Cairns’ 90-year-old downstairs
neighbor was struck by a bullet and died at the scene from her
injuries. It remains unknown who shot the victim.

Her
body was discovered inside the unit at around 10.30pm. The woman's
relatives have since been notified of her death, but her name is being
withheld pending a positive identification by the coroner.

Cairns remained holed up inside his apartment for hours until a police negotiator finally managed to talk him into surrendering,Patch.com reported. At
around 2.30am, he finally turned himself in to police and was charged
with aggravated assault. It is expected that the 49-year-old will face
additional counts. Murphy said police have responded to Cairns' apartment in the past for domestic disputes, but none of them were violent.

This
is not Cairns' first serious run-in with the law. In 2007, he was
charged with making terrorist threats, assault and reckless
endangerment, but the charges were dropped for lack of prosecution.

SPRINGFIELD -- Police, probing a triple shooting that took two lives on Wellington Street early Friday, said 27-year-old Anthony Brown fatally shot 26 year-old Julie Treadwell and then took his own life.

Court records show that Treadwell had filed for an abuse prevention order against Brown on Dec. 19, 2012, alleging that a day earlier Brown had broken into her home, kicked a refrigerator door off its hinges and punched her in the face. A section of the document labeled "Notice to Law Enforcement" warned that Brown may have access to firearms.

Under the order, which expired on Jan. 3, Brown was to stay at least 100 feet from Treadwell and two one-year-old children. Brown and Treadwell had been in a relationship and had two children together, according to court documents.

A third victim in this morning's shooting, a 28-year-old city man, was shot at least twice in the incident,. He was taken to Baystate Medical Center and is expected to survive, Capt. Thomas Trites said.

Trites declined to release the name of that victim.

The incident began shortly before 1:30 a.m. when Brown allegedly forced his way through the back door of 108 Wellington St., police said.

Brown, of 51 Dexter St., was confronted at the top of the stairs on the second floor by the 28-year-old male victim and Treadwell's juvenile son. A struggle ensued and Brown produced a gun, Trites said.

The juvenile then locked himself in the bathroom and the 28-year-old was shot in the arm as he jumped out a second floor window to escape, Trites said.

The 28-year-old landed on the lawn and Brown, firing from the upstairs window, shot again, hitting him in the shoulder, Trites said.

Brown then shot and killed Treadwell inside the home before turning the gun on himself, Trites said.

The juvenile and other children who were inside the home were not injured, and are now under the care of relatives, Trites said.

Tuesday, February 19, 2013

Pueblo, Colo. - Pueblo
police officers are investigating an early-morning homicide. It
happened shortly before 1 a.m. Tuesday at a home on the 1100 block of
Mass Street. It's in Pueblo's Belmont area.

Police said
34-year-old Adeline Whitehead was stabbed to death. Police believe the
victim's husband, 35-year-old Roy Whitehead, fled the scene on a
motorcycle. He crashed a short time later on Highway 50 and Baxter Road.
He died as a result of his injuries. Police said he is believed to be
the suspect in his wife's death.

Police
said three children were in the home when they arrived. The children
were taken to the police station and reunited with a family member.

We'll continue tracking this story and will update this article as we get more information.

KANAWHA COUNTY, W.Va. (WSAZ) -- The names of the two people found dead inside a home have been released.

Cpl. B.D. Humphreys tells WSAZ.com Dr. Bruce Foster and
his wife, Marlise were found dead in their home along Flairwood Drive in
Cross Lanes Monday morning.

Deputies are calling it a murder-suicide. Dr. Foster's
co-workers came to his house looking for him when he didn't show up for
work on Monday. No one had seen the man since Saturday.

Dr. Foster worked with the West Virginia Center for End-of-Life Care.

UPDATE 2/18/13 @ 9:45 p.m.KANAWHA COUNTY, W.Va. (WSAZ) --The
bodies of a husband and wife were found dead inside their Cross Lanes
home Monday morning, and police are calling it a murder-suicide.

Kanawha County Sheriff's deputies say the husband and wife
died from gunshot wounds, and no one else had entered the home along
Flairwood Drive.

Their bodies were discovered just after 11 a.m. after
neighbors and coworkers came looking for the couple. Deputies say no one
had heard from them in two days.

"[The husband] did not show up to work, and some
co-workers got concerned about him," Cpl. B.D. Humphreys said. "They
came to the house to check on him, and a neighbor helped with finding a
way into the house."

Neighbors described the couple as being very much in love
and doing just about everything together. They say they never heard so
much as an argument coming from the house.

"They were the perfect couple," Jon Walker said. "They
deeply loved each other ... at least that's what we knew them as. Just
really genuine, friendly people."

Now, he's just trying to cope with the shock and sadness of losing their loving presence.

"There's no way to ever prepare for anything like this,"
Walker said. "It never crossed my mind that anything like this would
ever happen."

Deputies aren't releasing the victims' identities now, but
neighbors told WSAZ.com the husband worked as a physician and his wife
worked with him.

They also say the wife had been suffering from health problems.

Keep clicking on WSAZ.com for the latest information.

ORIGINAL STORY 2/17/2013KANAWHA COUNTY, W.Va. (WSAZ) -- Two bodies have been found inside a home in Cross Lanes.

Kanawha County Sheriff's deputies responded to the house along Flairwood Drive in Cross Lanes.

Deputies tell WSAZ.com the body of a man and woman were found just after 11 a.m.

Deputies say they are investigating it as a possible murder-suicide.

Coworkers of the man came looking for him Monday morning when he didn't show up for work.

No one had seen the man since Saturday.

No names have been been released.

We have a crew headed to the scene. Keep clicking on WSAZ.com for the latest information.

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- They fought over finances and their impending
divorce, and that's when Adiljan Anarbaev turned to his fists, and a
knife, according to police sources.

And when it was over, police
found his 44-year-old wife, Ilona Ganzha, dead at his hands, and
Anarbaev laying in a third-floor bedroom, still alive with two knives
sticking out of him, law enforcement sources said.

The 44-year-old Anarbaev, who's still hospitalized, now faces murder and other charges after the brutal episode inside Ms. Ganzha's New Springville home Monday afternoon.

As more details emerge about the slaying, law enforcement sources
detail a history of domestic violence calls from the 42A Country Drive
Road home where Ms. Ganzha was killed.

Police responded to a half dozen calls, mainly for verbal disputes
and instances of aggravated harassment -- likely stemming from unwanted
phone calls -- between January 2011 and September 2012, though none
resulted in an arrest, one police source familiar with the case said.

The charges against Anarbaev show he violated a court order to stay
away from his wife -- the police source said that order comes from a
pending family court case between the two.

As the police source
tells it, Anarbaev showed up at the condo at about 2 p.m. on Monday. The
door was unlocked, and he headed up to a third-floor bedroom, the
source said.

There, the source said, Ms. Ganzha and Anarbaev
argued for about 45 minutes about finances and the divorce. Her son from
an earlier relationship, Roman Ganzha, was home at the time -- he saw
Anarbaev punching his mother, and feared for her safety, the source
said.

At some point, Anarbaev walked past the son, went
downstairs, got a knife, then came back up, held it over his head, and
started stabbing Ms. Ganzha, the source said.

Roman went to two
of his mother's young children, and their grandmother, who were also
home, and told them to leave, then ran to a satellite office of the
NYPD's 122nd Precinct, which is located a couple of blocks away on
Richmond Avenue, near the Staten Island Mall, the source said.

When police arrived, Ms. Ganzha's young daughter answered the door, the
source said. They found Ms. Ganzha in the third-floor bedroom,
unresponsive and bleeding, and Anarbaev with the knives sticking out of
him, the source said.

He was rushed to Staten Island University
Hospital, Ocean Breeze, in critical condition. Hospital officials could
not provide updated information about his condition.

Monday, February 18, 2013

FAIRDEALING, Mo. • Two people are dead and two others hospitalized after what authorities are calling a murder-suicide in southeast Missouri.

Ripley
County Sheriff Ron Barnett says the deaths happened Saturday night in a
rural home near Fairdealing, about 140 miles south of St. Louis in
southeast Missouri.

Barnett says a couple argued when the woman
wanted to leave their home, and the woman's family came to help her move
out. He says Colton Turner, 23, shot and killed his girlfriend's
father, Dean McColley Sr. He also stabbed his girlfriend's mother and
brother before killing himself.

KFVS reports one stabbing victim was sent to an area hospital, while the other was flown to Memphis, Tenn., for treatment.

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. -- A man is facing charges as the investigation of a death at a Tallahassee apartment complex continues.

The body of 45-year-old Mary Scurry was discovered early Monday
morning at Hickory Hills Apartments on Jackson Bluff Road. Deputies say
that her body was found in a pool side bathroom at the complex.

At 2:40 a.m. that same morning, 24-year-old Steven
Ives turned himself in to the Leon County Sheriff's Office. Ives
reportedly showed up with blood on his clothes and told deputies that
he'd done something “bad” but would not elaborate. Officials say that
Ives also mentioned the bathroom at the apartment complex, where
Scurry's body was found.

As detectives investigated the scene of the crime by
interviewing people and collecting evidence, they say they discovered
that Ives had been arguing with Scurry earlier in the evening.

Court records show that Curry obtained an Injunction
for Protection against Domestic Violence on January 14, 2013. Ives was
served with that protection order three days later.

Ives was taken to the county jail.He's charged with murder and aggravated stalking.

Sunday, February 17, 2013

A Westmont woman has been charged with stabbing her husband to death
during an argument at the couple’s home Friday, officials said.

According to a press release from DuPage County State’s Attorney Robert B. Berlin, Lisa Davis, 42, of the 500 block of West 51st Street, has been charged with first degree murder in the death of her husband David, 49.

About 7:29 p.m. Friday, Westmont police responded to a 911 call at
the couple’s home and found David Davis bleeding from a knife wound to
the right side of his abdomen, the release said. Davis was transported
to a local hospital, where he died at 11:36 p.m.

Lisa Davis was arrested at
the scene, the release said, and has been in custody ever since.
Officials said that she and her husband had gotten into a “verbal
altercation” and that she subsequently stabbed him with a kitchen knife.

According to the release, Lisa Davis will appear in bond court at 8 a.m. Monday at the DuPage County Jail.

A shooting in Rockwall killed one
woman on Saturday night. Police said they were forced to shoot her
ex-boyfriend after a police pursuit that lasted from Rockwall to
Greenville, Texas.

According to a Rockwall police
department news release, officers responded to a shooting call in the
2000 block of Summer Lee around 7:53 p.m. Saturday. Police found a male
and female victim with multiple gunshot wounds. Both were taken to the
hospital, where the female victim died.

Police told NBCDFW, the chase ended
about 45 minutes later with another shooting in Greenville on the
westbound service road of I-30. Police said the vehicle driven by Lewis
stopped after its tires were spiked and it hit a Texas Department of
Public Safety vehicle.

"The suspect then exited his vehicle,
pointed a handgun at the officers and was shot by officers on the
scene," the Rockwall police department release said. "The suspect was
transported to Presbyterian Hospital in Greenville, Texas. The suspect
was later flown to Parkland Hospital in Dallas for further treatment."

The police officers involved in the chase were not hurt.

The condition of the male shooting
victim in Rockwall has not been released. Rockwall Police Detectives are
looking into that shooting.

The Texas Rangers are investigating the shooting of the suspect in Greenville.

Police say the bodies of a man and woman found in a Council Bluffs home Saturday morning was the result of a murder/suicide.

Officers called to the Bluffs Acres mobile home park near
Pueblo Road and Chippewa Circle just after 10 a.m. to investigate a
report of a shooting found the bodies of 38-year-old Stephony Metzger
and 42-year-old Terry Francis in one of the home's bedrooms.

Police say Metzger, who lived at the home, and Francis had
been dating for several years. It's believed he shot Metzger before
turning the gun on himself. Neighbor Jennifer Iwersen said Metzger had
recently been trying to end the relationship.

Metzger was the mother of three children between the ages
of 12 and 18. Carolyn Brown, who lives across the street, went to
school with the oldest child. "She's recently started college. She was
talking on Facebook the other day about how she was really looking
forward to a bright future and then unfortunately something like this
happened. I feel so terribly sorry for her."

Brown didn't know Metzger well. “I didn’t have many
conversations with her, but she seemed really nice and caring. When she
would come out with her dogs she would wave and say hi. She never
seemed mean at all. I’ve only had pleasant encounters with her.”

On
Valentine’s Day, a day dedicated to lovers, Reeva Steenkamp, 29, was
shot to death, allegedly by her lover, Oscar Pistorius, the
double-amputee known as “the Blade Runner” for his spectacular Olympic
track performance last year. Steenkamp was a model, a motivational
speaker and, ironically, a crusader against violence toward women.

On
Valentine’s Day closer to home, jurors heard testimony in the trial of
Nathaniel Fujita, a star high school athlete in leafy, affluent Wayland
who’d been headed to even leafier Trinity College to play football.
Instead Fujita faces first-degree murder charges in the strangling death
of his longtime sweetheart, Lauren Astley, a standout at school known
for her spunk, enthusiasm and lovely singing voice.

Neither Pistorius nor Fujita fit the cliches of the domestic
abuser. That is, someone who grew up in a poor, troubled or violent
family; someone with a pronounced drug or alcohol problem; someone who’s
failed in life and whose attacks accelerate from controlling behavior
to verbal abuse to ever more violent physical assaults. In fact, the
alleged attacks on these women appeared to be unexpected, friends and
family have said. Even Astley, who knew of Fujita’s increasing
depression, never indicated that she feared him.

Just the opposite
of a frustrated loser, Pistorius was a Nike spokesman, rich and
world-famous. He grew up in a large and reportedly loving family
determined that his amputations would neither diminish nor define him.
Fujita for years had enjoyed the status that comes with being an
athletic star. His father is a popular music professor at Berklee
College of Music. His mother was so worried about her son’s post-breakup
bleak moods that she visited Lauren Astley at her job at the Natick
Mall.

And neither Astley nor Steenkamp fit the stereotype of abuse
victims either: some weak, dependent, poorly educated woman with low
self-esteem, few options and, perhaps conditioned by her own violent
past, an expectation of abuse. Lauren Astley has been described as
strong, bold, focused — an a capella singer ready to pursue a career in
fashion at Elon University. Steenkamp used her fame to speak out against
sexual violence. “I woke up in a happy, safe home this morning. Not
everyone did,” she tweeted just last week, prophetically.

The only
stereotypes that fit here: Astley’s breakup with Fujita (breakups
increase the likelihood of violence six-fold); and the presence of a
gun, a 9 mm pistol, in Pistorius’ home, which dramatically increases the
likelihood of a domestic murder, or suicide.

So what to make of
all this? Simply that domestic violence spares no one: not the rich, the
famous, the beautiful, the successful — or those who are well raised
and very much loved.

For 15 years now, Valentine’s Day has also
been known as V-Day, a day of global awareness of violence against
women. This Valentine’s Day, Steenkamp had been scheduled to speak to
teenagers about empowerment and standing up for justice in their own
lives. “Wear black this Friday in support against rape,” she had tweeted
just hours before she’d planned to don black herself. But by Friday,
Reeva Steenkamp was dead.

Friday, February 15, 2013

A 19-year-old pregnant woman fatally shot on an East Knoxville
residential street was killed by a boyfriend who remained at large
Thursday night, police alleged.

Brandon Scott Donaldson, 22, of Knoxville was arguing with Marcia
Crider as she sat in a parked car with her mother in the 3900 block of
Porter Avenue when he opened fire on the pair Wednesday morning,
according to Knoxville Police Department spokesman Darrell DeBusk.

Crider was struck multiple times. Her mother, whose name has not been released by police, was not injured.

Warrants were issued Thursday against Donaldson on charges of
second-degree murder and attempted second-degree murder. Police also
released his photograph and a warning to the public that Donaldson
should be considered armed and dangerous. Bond on the charges has been
set at $750,000.

An autopsy performed Thursday showed that Crider was 13 weeks pregnant, DeBusk said.

The spokesman said investigators understand that Donaldson apparently was not the father of the unborn child.

It will be up to prosecutors to decide whether to file any additional charge for the death of the fetus.

State law was amended last year to allow criminal prosecution for an
assault against a pregnant woman that causes the death of a human embryo
or fetus at any stage of gestation in utero. The law previously applied
only to a viable fetus.

After the shooting, Crider's mother drove her daughter a couple of blocks to a pay phone to call E-911.

Authorities have charged a Murfreesboro man with first-degree murder in
connection with the death of his wife who was found on Valentine's Day
inside their Kanatak Lane home in the Blackman community.

Jacob Pearman, 30, was taken into custody only a few hours after he
allegedly killed his wife, 30-year-old Carla Pearman, according to
officials with Murfreesboro Police Department.

“He has been charged with first-degree murder,” said Maj. Clyde
Adkison, a spokesman for the Police Department. “During his interview,
he did confess to the detectives.”

Adkison said Jacob Pearman remains in custody at the Rutherford
County Adult Detention Center, where he is being held without bond until
a preliminary hearing, which will likely take place next week.

Police discovered the body of Carla Pearman at about 3:30 a.m. when
they responded to 839 Kanatak Lane, located off Fortress Boulevard in
the Preserve at Indian Creek subdivision, in reference to a possible
suicide.

“At approximately 3:21 a.m., our 9-1-1 communications center received
a phone call from the parents of (Jacob Pearman) stating that their son
was possibly contemplating suicide,” Adkison said.

When police arrived at the residence less than five minutes later,
they discovered Carla Pearman dead in the bedroom of the house, Adkison
said.

Just before 6 a.m., Adkison said police tracked down Jacob Pearman in
Manchester, Tenn., and brought him back to Murfreesboro for
questioning.

Detectives with the Criminal Investigations Division spent more than
four hours combing through the house collecting evidence, as the
investigation into the case continues.

Authorities have not publicly discussed how she was killed, and an
official cause of death will not be released until an autopsy is
completed by the State Medical Examiner's Office in Nashville.

The few details that have been released suggest that Carla Pearman was strangled and beaten to death.

Jacob Pearman, a well-known personal trainer at the Murfreesboro
Athletic Club, and Carla Pearman, who is originally from Manchester, had
been married for less than six months and lived in the house with her
young son, whose identity is not being released due to privacy laws.

It is unknown whether the boy was at home when his mother was killed.

Although police have not commented on a possible motive, Jacob
Pearman was scheduled to appear Thursday in Rutherford County General
Sessions Court for a criminal summons on a charge of felony child abuse
and neglect regarding an incident with his stepson.

It was unclear Friday which person investigators believe killed the
other. Authorities have not released that information, and sheriff’s
officials could not be reached for comment.

Investigators have said the victims “were involved in domestic
relationship.” Both bodies were taken to the North Carolina Office of
the Chief Medical Examiner for autopsies.

The scene is just south of High Point in the northwest corner of Randolph County.

The house is on a dirt road behind Flash Gordon Motors and Leasing
automotive dealership. The neighborhood was quiet on Friday morning,
with no signs apparent that it had been a crime scene the previous
evening.

A man who answered the door at the couple’s home who said he was a
family member declined to comment. Neighbors reached Friday either said
they didn’t know the victims or declined to comment.
Thursday’s deaths involved the second homicide in this part of Randolph County in the past four months.

In an unrelated incident in October, Tina Mae Rook, 36, of High Point,
was fatally stabbed in the Prospect Street/Thompson Road area, about a
quarter-mile from the scene of Thursday’s deaths.

No arrests have been made in Rook’s death. Authorities said she was
seen getting into a pickup truck in the area of Clinton Avenue and
Lincoln Drive in High Point shortly before she died on the afternoon of
Oct. 13.

According to a description released by the sheriff’s office, the white,
full-size, single-cab truck was driven by an unknown white male of slim
build with brown, shaggy hair.

Randolph County authorities have ruled the deaths of two people at a
residence just south of High Point Thursday night a murder-suicide.

Sheriff's deputies have identified the deceased as Clayton Woodrow
Barricks, 29, and Jennifer Dawn Hill, 30. The couple was involved in a
domestic relationship, authorities said. Deputies responded to 1267
Beverly Hills Drive about 6 p.m. after a 911 caller advised that two
people had been shot inside the residence. Both victims were pronounced
dead at the scene.

Further information about the deaths, such as who authorities believe killed whom, has not been yet been released.

RANDOLPH COUNTY — Two people were killed in a residence on Beverly Hills Drive just outside of High Point Thursday night.

Lt. Ed Blair of the Randolph County Sheriff’s Department said officers
responded to a 911 call at 6:15 p.m. to the residence where they found
two bodies.

Blair said the bodies will be taken to the State Medical Examiner’s
office in Raleigh for an autopsy. More details will be released today by
the sheriff’s department.

RAMSEY, Minn. - Anoka County sheriff's officials say a couple found
dead in an apparent murder-suicide had received an eviction notice.

The bodies of 67-year-old Caron Fine and 65-year-old Mitchell Fine
were found in their Ramsey home Tuesday. Sheriff's Cmdr. Paul Sommer
says the couple's daughter asked police to check on her parents after
she received an email from her father indicating the couple was being
evicted and they planned to kill themselves.

Their bodies were found in their rented house with gunshot wounds to
the head. Nine cats were also found dead from apparent gunshot wounds.

Sommer tells the St. Paul Pioneer Press investigators believe
Mitchell Fine used a rifle to kill the cats and a handgun to kill his
wife and himself.

LACEY’S SPRING, Ala. (WHNT) – A Valentine’s Day love story has
apparently turned into homicide. A Morgan County woman, who should have
been celebrating her wedding anniversary, was instead found dead in her
home this morning. Sheriff’s investigators say her ex-husband is the
primary suspect in her death.

The body of 46-year-old Stacey Hagood was found in the home she
shared with her ex-husband, Rodney Hagood, on River Loop Road late this
morning by her daughter. Morgan County Sheriff Ana Franklin declined to
say how she died, but she says the death was homicide.

“This is a case of domestic violence, on-going domestic violence, has
been throughout the years,” Sheriff Franklin told reporters Thursday
morning.

Stacey Hagood was last seen alive at around 7 PM Wednesday night by
her daughter, who discovered her mother’s body when she returned home
just before 11 AM Thursday morning. It’s an address sheriff’s deputies
are quite familiar with, they’ve been there many times. In fact,
deputies were called to the home Tuesday night on another domestic
violence call.

The Hagoods were married on Valentines Day a number of years ago, but
had divorced. Rodney Hagood had moved back in with his wife, but their
neighbors say there was always trouble.

“They were always into it, you know. Good people, she was a great
person, give you the shirt off her back. But Hagood, he was always into
something. There was always cops over there, couldn’t ever tell what was
going to go on from one day to the next. He’d be in jail then out of
jail, and you’d know when he got back because they’d be argueing, and
then he’d be on the loose out here asking for rides and wanting you to
do something, borrow money. Other than that, they were real good
people,” JD Atchley, who lives next door to the Hagoods told WHNT News
19.

Sheriff Franklin says Mrs. Hagood had filed for protection orders on a
number of occasions, but never followed through, or failed to show up
in court, apparently due to threats of additional violence. Franklin
says Mrs. Hagood died as she had lived much of her live, in fear.

“I will tell you that from interviewing the family members, none of
them were surprised that this happened. They were waiting for the day
this would happen. That’s a terrible situation to live in. So my heart
goes out to this family, and to the family of the suspect. It is just a
terrible situation,” Sheriff Franklin said.

A South Florida man strangled his two young sons with a rope at his estranged wife’s house and then used a gun to shoot one of the boys several times before he shot himself to death, authorities said Saturday afternoon.

Police say Isidro Zavala, 45, early Saturday went to the Boynton Beach home of his wife with the intention of killing her and their children, Eduardo Zavala, 12, and Mario Zavala, 11.

At the crime scene, detectives found a blue bag with a second firearm, extra ammunition, duct tape, cutting shears and a note addressed to Zavala's oldest son, who was not at the residence during the killings, police said.

Isidro Zavala carried out his plan, but with an exception: He spared his wife, Victoria Flores Zavala, 36, so that she could suffer, police said.

“What Mrs. Zavala had to go through -- watch her children killed before her -- is probably the most horrific thing you could ever imagine, at least for me,” said Boynton Beach Police Chief G. Matthew Immler, saying that he himself is a parent.

The motive for the killing "is just speculation at this point," Immler said.

Victoria Flores Zavala contacted police, who arrived at her house in the 400 block of Southwest Eighth Avenue about 1:50 a.m. Saturday.

Officers found one child dead in a back screened patio area. A second child was found dead in the kitchen dining room area. Officers found Isidro Zavala’s body in the kitchen, police said.

Victoria Zavala said that her husband killed their children, police said. She said she and her husband had been separated and that he no longer lived in the house.

She told detectives that she was watching TV when she heard commotion in the house, went to check on her children and saw Isidro Zavala choking one of his sons, police said.

Then he killed them. Mario was the boy who was shot repeatedly, police said. The mother had tried to stop her spouse.

“She tried fighting him off and begged him to kill her and not the children,” Boynton Beach police spokeswoman Stephanie Slater said in a press release. “He told her she was going to stay alive and suffer the loss of them.”

Detectives obtained a warrant to search the house, as well as a house in the 1100 block of Southeast Third Street, where Isidro Zavala had been living, police said.

The Zavalas have a 19-year-old son who does not live with his family and was not there when the killings occurred, police said. The note found at the crime scene addressed to him said something to the effect that "he was a good son," police said.

Detectives have called the state Department of Children and Families to investigate. “It should be noted that there is no history of reports of domestic violence or abuse noted at the house,” Slater said.

The Zavala couple married in 1993, records show. In 1999, the pair signed a $73,700 mortgage on the home where the killings occurred, Palm Beach County records show.

In October last year, Victoria Flores Zavala filed for divorce from her husband in Palm Beach County, a case that records showed was still listed as pending.

Immler called Saturday's case "an unusually brutal type of murder," but said such murder-suicide cases unfortunately have been known to happen.

"And certainly I’ve seen it over the years of being a police officer, that there are mentally disturbed people out there who commit these types against their own family members, against their own loved ones," he said.

The police chief turned his attention to the surviving Zavalas.

"Hopefully, as time passes, perhaps their wounds will heal. I doubt it," he said. "You know, I don’t believe you could ever recover from something like this.

"Hopefully, the surviving Zavalas can get the help they need and somehow go on with life."